Exhibits + Collections

Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination

January 23, 2016 – June 12, 2016

This immersive and enriching multi-media exhibition tells the story of the unlikely alliance between two of the most renowned artists of the twentieth century: brilliantly eccentric Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dali and American entertainment innovator Walt Disney.

Presented through a multimedia wonderland of original paintings, story sketches, conceptual artwork, objects, correspondences, archival film, photographs, and audio – this comprehensive exhibition showcases two vastly different icons who were drawn to each other through their unique personalities, their enduring friendship, and their collaboration on the animated short Destino.

Born three years and half a world apart, both Disney and Dali bore boyhood imaginations grounded in their upbringing in the 1900s, encouraging their lives, careers, and legacies to be paralleled on a profound level. A deeper look into the lives and artistic prominence of the Surrealist and the dreamer—highlighted by hand-written letters and alongside filmed dramatizations and audio re-creations—will show just how alike these two innovators were in blurring the lines between reality and dreams.

“Disney and Dali heralds a new era in art exhibitions,” said Dali Museum Executive Director, Hank Hine. “Visitors can expect a multi-sensory environment of moving image, soundscapes, and the transformative aura of exquisite individual paintings. Disney and Dali broke new ground as artists—the Walt Disney Family Museum and The Dali will deliver a brave new world of experience.”

Dreams of Dali
Go inside and beyond Dali’s 1935 painting Archeological Reminiscence of Millet’s “Angelus” and explore the world of the surrealist master like never before. Adventure into the towers, peer from them to distant lands, and discover surprises around every corner—in a way we can only imagine Dali may have dreamed.

Dreams of Dali is a fully immersive 3-D environment available free to visitors to the Disney & Dali exhibit. Everyone may explore a 360-video of Dreams of Dali from a desktop computer or mobile device. Learn More

Disney & Dali: Architects of the Imagination is co-organized by The Walt Disney Family Museum and The Dali Museum, with the collaboration of the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in Figueres, Spain, and The Walt Disney Studios. The exhibition is guest-curated by filmmaker Ted Nicolaou and co-curated for The Dali by Peter Tush.